Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Liberal?

by David G. Savage - March 8, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

"We think Justice Thomas got it exactly right," said Doug Kendall of the Constitutional Accountability Center. "A key part of our constitutional system is respect for the states in protecting the health and welfare of their citizens."

Thomas has never been shy about breaking with conventional wisdom -- even when it is the conservative consensus. Over the years, he has spelled out a distinctive approach in several areas of the law. And his views do not always yield predictably conservative results.

The position of this writer on what is "conservative" is more left wing bias than reality. The problem is that the article is written by someone who neither supports or understands "conservative" views. It also indicates that many "conservatives" have become so pro "Wall Street" in their interpretations they have failed to notice that "Wall Street" is no longer "conservative".

Wall Street today practices a form of socialism that some have started to call crony capitalism to denote how far from the principles of free enterprise they have strayed. Reflexively defending this Wall Street version of crony capitalism has become the practice of some so-called "conservatives", like the "compassionate conservatives" of the George W. Bush ilk. The problem is that they are NOT conservative at all. They may call themselves "compassionate conservatives" but they are more accurately "compassionate socialists" as they define everything in terms of this crony capitalism melding of Wall Street and big government power. Big government is not conservative, nor Constitutional, and never will be.

Equating that hypocrisy with conservatism is simply wrong. Clarence Thomas, at least, sees that.